


so golden

by g0ldendays



Category: Formula 2 RPF, Motorsport RPF
Genre: Gen, What happens in Sochi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26665354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/g0ldendays/pseuds/g0ldendays
Summary: For some reason, Christian and Jüri never have a good time in Sochi.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	so golden

**Author's Note:**

> These two are such an underrated duo but I adore them. So I had to write something! Marcus and Callum make short appearances.

The only thing on Jüri's mind right now is a string of curse words in three different languages. Out by the second corner, and not through his own fault for once. He found himself facing the wrong way and the car had stalled. Of course it had. This thing was more difficult _not_ to stall, especially when he wasn't expecting to be spun out in the second corner on the first lap. Everyone knows a race isn't won on the first lap but these things happened. That didn't make it any less frustrating, however. Frustrated, he resists the urge to toss the steering wheel - knows damn well they're expensive and he needs to be careful with it - and climbs out of the car. Safety car's deployed, he can see that much and as he looks at the big screen, he sees an ART stranded just a bit further down the road, can't tell if it's Marcus or Christian.

He hitches a ride back to the paddock as he recognises the black suit climbing out of the ART - Christian. Jüri's not sure what happened or where Christian picked up damage but it must've happened somewhere in that incident. He doesn't wanna go to the pits yet, just wants to change out of his racing gear and head back to the team once he feels a little less like screaming into his helmet. He's never really liked Sochi, it's grey and concrete and quite bland. Last year's incident with Christian didn't help for his overall enjoyment of the track, even if they're able to laugh about it now. Jüri endured quite the shitstorm on social media that day - and they weren't wrong. Even winning the race the next day didn't make him feel any better. All the grey and concrete makes him feel uneasy, trapped in a way. He muses it over as he gets changed in the Dams motorhome - keeping on his suit but letting the top half hang down while he's put on some Red Bull t-shirt.

As he leaves the Dams tent, Christian's just passing him on his way to ART. "Hold up!" Jüri calls out and jogs up to Christian, who's stopped to wait for him. He still has his helmet on but his eyes betray what he's feeling. If anyone understands that feeling right now, it's definitely Jüri. Getting a DNF always sucks because they're drivers, they're programmed to want that win and not even getting a chance to fight for it is horrible, feels unfair.

"At least it wasn't you this time," Christian says in his most deadpan tone and Jüri can't help but laugh.

"Were you on the outside?" Christian nods. "Then I'm afraid it might've, indirectly, been me." Jüri laughs some more when Christian shoves him gently, clicks his visor shut and turns on his heels dramatically - Jüri knows he's just messing around.

"We just can't catch a break in Sochi, can we?" Christian says as he finally takes off his helmet.

"Nope, this track just hates us," Jüri says as he follows Christian to the ART motorhome. 

"To be fair, it wasn't the track that took me out last year," Christian replies and Jüri smacks him on the arm. "Hey! I'm not wrong," Christian protests. 

"At least we can try and cut through the field tomorrow, make up some places, score some points," Jüri says, knowing it's pointless to argue with Christian because he absolutely did take Christian out, even if it was accidentally. He's still not sure what he was thinking at the time, but it definitely wasn't on purpose. There was a safety car and he remembers being focused on his speed and on the radio with his team and suddenly he went into the back of Christian - it wasn't a big crash since it was a low speed corner, but it still tapped Christian around and out of the points. And the consequent 10 second penalty landed him on reverse grid pole for the next day. 

Oh, they'd had a chat after the race, which mostly consisted of Christian quietly fuming while Jüri apologised and tried to explain that it hadn't been on purpose. It had just been a moment of unawareness and Jüri had admitted straight away that it was stupid. And that had been that. Until Christian had brought it up again tentatively, trying to see if this was something he could tease Jüri about or if it was actually a sensitive subject. It turned out to be the former, and he hadn't let it rest since. Jüri was fine with it, he knew Christian didn't mean it as a snipe at his driving or at his character and so it was brought up from time to time.

"We really went from sharing a podium to sharing a first lap DNF, huh," Christian muses as they leave the ART motorhome, having dropped off his helmet and gloves and other racing gear. 

"Hero to zero real fast," Jüri agrees. They find a big screen in the paddock to watch the race for a few minutes, before Jüri realises they're both probably expected on the pit wall with their respective teams. Christian's clearly had the same thought because he grabs Jüri by the arm and starts the walk back to the pitlane. It's quite a walk and occasionally, they catch a glimpse of the race on the big screens. It's frustrating, they both should've been out there fighting for points and positions right now, but one simple accident took them both out of the race.

They separate as they reach their respective teams and Jüri knows he'll see Christian later, after the race is done and the briefings over with. He watches Marcus struggle and crawl to a 9th place finish, just 1.5 seconds off reverse grid pole, wincing as his friend crosses the line in p9. Marcus hasn't been happy with his performance all season and while p9 means points, it means no reverse grid pole and no chance at a podium tomorrow, unless something wild happens to shake up the entire field. 

Jüri's part of the briefing is done with rather quickly, considering he was taken out in the second corner of the first lap, but his teammate is rather... talkative when it comes to analysing the race. He zones out 15 minutes in and only zones back in when everyone is finally getting up. Sure, he could learn something from his teammate's results but considering this was his last weekend in F2, it's not of much use to him anyway. F1 qualifying will be starting shortly so the F2 paddock is mostly empty, everyone having left to watch qualifying or left to return home. He doesn't expect 2 people to be waiting for him at the Dams motorhome, one short and one tall figure talking to each other as Jüri approaches and tries to get his head to wake up and cooperate. "Took your time," Marcus comments, studying Jüri through his sunglasses.

"Yeah, we've been standing here for an hour," Christian chimes in and Jüri can tell Marcus rolls his eyes, despite the sunglasses. "Okay, fine, it's more like 30 minutes but it's still way too long. The only reason we haven't left yet is because we wanted to go for lunch with you and we saw your stuff was still here." 

"Yeah, briefing was a bit long," Jüri replies, mindful of how his entire team, including teammate, is passing him into the awning. It wouldn't look great if he said 'briefing was long and boring and I fell asleep 15 minutes in' in front of them, but he'll tell Christian and Marcus later. He grabs his bag quickly and follows Marcus and Christian to the exit. 

"Well well, if this isn't the merry band of idiots," a familiar voice says next to them as they're almost at the exit. 

"Well well, if it isn't Mr. Second in the Championship," Marcus snipes back and he gets a shove from Callum.

"Mind if I join you for lunch?" Callum asks then and Marcus side-eyes him. 

"Should've considered that before you called us idiots," Christian says cheerfully.

Jüri, ever the peace keeper, just nods at Callum. "It's fine, don't listen to team snappy and sarcastic here." A chorus of protests goes up as Marcus and Christian both take offence to that title but Jüri pays it no mind, he's used to that. The chatter that surrounds him as his friends all argue about one thing or another on their way to the restaurant is strangely calming. He's gonna miss it.

**Author's Note:**

> I usually just feel like I'm screaming fics into the void so any comments would be much appreciated! 💜


End file.
